Rob Diament

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Rob Diament : biography

1980 –

Early life

Diament grew up in Berkshirehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/berkshire/content/articles/2004/12/10/temposhark_interview_feature.shtml Information taken from BBC Online Berkshire section and began to play classical piano (his first instrument) at the age of four. Diament’s classical training continued in piano and violin, whilst at the same time he learnt to sing in a local church choir.http://www.strangefascination.co.uk/interviews_page.php?interview_index=3 Information sourced from StrangeFascination.co.uk interview with Diament Songwriting soon followed but Diament only began to record his music at the age of thirteen. At his secondary school in Reading, Diament met Luke Busby for the first time, his later collaborator in Temposhark, but interestingly the two never collaborated until leaving school many years later.http://www.getreading.co.uk/entertainment/livemusic/10/10907/feeding_frenzy_for_temposhark Information taken from Reading Evening Post interview with Temposhark 2004 Diament and Busby also studied alongside Hollywood actress Natalie Dormer.As reported in the Windsor Express newspaper on Friday 21st March 2008 However, Diament sang in a number of rock bands and became a regular concertgoer in the town, best known for the annual rock festival Reading Festival. In his later teens, Diament’s live performances in London and Reading had attracted much interest from both high profile musicians and music industry professionals alike, which led to the recording of his debut EP.http://www.robdiament.com Information taken from Diament’s official website

Early musical career

Diament first arrived on the music scene in 1999 with his debut piano-oriented solo EP ‘Seven Years Running’ produced by Anthony Amos. Following this release, he further developed his sound on tour in North America and returned to London in 2000 to record a selection of new songs with producer Stuart Epps (Elton John/Robbie Williams) before spending the following two years writing and recording with Killing Joke member and award winning producer, Youth aka Martin Glover.http://www.robdiament.com/downloads/ Information taken from Diament’s official website In 2000, British pop culture magazine The Face highlighted Diament as an artist to watch and "songwriter of genius". Around this time, Diament began to spend time in Brighton collaborating on a number of art, music and performance projects with old Reading school friend Luke Busby and Busby’s fellow art student Natasha Kahn, now known for her project Bat for Lashes.http://www.arjanwrites.com/arjanwrites/2007/12/free-download-3.html As mentioned in Robert Diament’s guest blog on USA pop music blog ArjanWrites.com December 29th 2007 This led Diament and Busby to study music in London at University of Westminster where Temposhark was formed in 2004. Diament and Busby both graduated in 2005 with First Class Honours. Other key bands/artists that studied alongside them were The Departure, Pure Reason Revolution, Kevin Mark Trail (The Streets) and Emmy The Great.

Writer

As well as a songwriter, Diament has written for music magazines such as Blowbackhttp://www.temposhark.com/photos/30-08221240-10520.jpg Robert Diament of Temposhark interviewed Imogen Heap in Blowback Magazine, August 2005 in the UK and BPMBPM Magazine’s Hipster Issue, March 2008, Diament contributed to a panel on the new Hipster Movement http://www.temposhark.com/site/news/detail.php?articleId=546 and RedefineIn March 2008, Diament was guest commentator for the whole issue of Redefine music and arts magazine http://www.temposhark.com/site/news/detail.php?articleId=548 magazines in the USA. In December 2007 and January 2008, he wrote as guest blogger on the USA music blog ArjanWrites.com including the exclusive first review of Alanis Morissette’s album Flavors Of Entanglement. He is also credited as contributing interviews and research for Lucy O’Brien’s music-focused biography Madonna: Like An Icon about Madonna published in 2007 by Bantam Press.